Bill Cosby’s PR Team Now Says His Upcoming Town Halls Will Not Be About Sexual-Assault Accusations

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According to Bill Cosby’s PR team, the comedian’s upcoming “town hall” tour will not focus on teaching people about sexual-assault accusations, despite what you might have heard from Bill Cosby’s PR team. “The town-hall meetings are not about sexual assault. I will repeat. These town-hall meetings are not about sexual assault,” the comedian’s publicist Ebonee Benson said Sunday to CNN New Day weekend anchor Christi Paul. “When we initially talked about the town-hall meetings,” clarified Benson. “It was about restoration of legacy, much to what Mrs. Cosby spoke on in her statement, is the sensationalism brought on by the media. This is another example of that. To take something meant to talk about the restoration of this man’s legacy that was destroyed by the media before he even had a chance to step into the courtroom. That’s what this is about.”

The confusion likely stemmed from the fact that Cosby’s publicity team said in a televised interview last week that the comedian would use his upcoming speaking engagements to educate people, in particular “athletes” and “married men,” on how to avoid sexual-assault accusations. In an interview on Good Day Alabama, Benson and fellow publicist Andrew Wyatt described Cosby’s upcoming engagements as an opportunity to address trumped up or false sexual-assault claims, which they characterized as prevalent. Said Benson at the time, “The statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault are being extended, so this is why people need to be educated [that] a brush against a shoulder — anything, at this point — can be considered sexual assault. It’s a good thing to be educated about the laws.” Many were agog at the idea that Cosby would attempt to educate others on how to avoid sexual-assault accusations, as he himself has been accused of sexual assault by over 50 women. The comedian’s recent trial, which found him facing three counts of felony indecent sexual assault, ended in a mistrial on Saturday, June 17.